Rail joint



l. 1. BUF F. RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED N OVI 5| 1921.

1,40 ,533, Patented Feb. 1 4, 1922.

S] m uemtoz 155130? John Buff I 6mm,

UNITED ISADOIEt J". RUFF, OIE CADGGAN, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAIL JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented F b 14 1922- Application filed November 5, 1921. Serial No. 513,083.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IsAnoR JOHN Burr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cadogan, in the county of Armstrong and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bail Joints, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to rail joints, and particularly to rail joints designed to do away with the use of fish plates or bolts.

The general object of the invention is to provide a rail joint so constructed that the abutting ends of two rails are locked together against longitudinal movement or any lateral movement so that the rails merely require to be interlocked with each other and then spiked or otherwise engaged with the tie.

A further object is to provide a rail joint of this character including rails, in which one of the coacting rails is cut away upon its upper surface and the adjacent end of the other rail is cut away upon its under surface so that the ends of the rails overlap, the confronting end faces and the confronting longitudinal faces of the overlap ping portions of the rails being formed with interlocking tongues and recesses.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail joint constructed in accordance with my invention' Figure 2 is a side elevation of the end of the rail A;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the end of the rail B;

Figure 4 is a top. plan view of the end of the rail A;

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the end of the rail B;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 1.

Referring to these figures, A designates one rail and B an adjacent rail. The rail A at its end adjacent the rail B is cut away upon its upper face, as at 10. The rail B, as illustrated in Figure 8, adjacent the rail A is cut away upon its under face, as at 11. Thus the two rails will. overlap at their ends when the rails are supported in alignment with each other. The rail A at the inner end wall of its cutaway portion is formed with a vertical, V-shaped groove 12' and is formed to provide a vertically extending shoulder 13 outward of this groove 12. The upper face of the web portion 14 which forms this shoulder is downwardly, and forwardly inclined, as at 15, and at the extremity of the rail there is an upwardly extending shoulder 16 whose face is formed with a V-shaped groove 17. The web 14 is longitudinally grooved, as at 18, and this web 1s at its end adjacent the shoulder 13 is beveled, as at 19.

The coacting rail B is formed at the inner end of its cut-away portion with a vertical shoulder 20 which is formed with a V-shaped groove 21 in its face. A vertical shoulder 22 is disposed in spaced relation to the shoulder 20 and the web 23 of the rail which forms this shoulder is cut away upon each face, this cut away portion having faces 24 which are inclined upwardly and forwardly, as illustrated in Figure 3, each of these faces terminating in a shoulder 25, this shoulder being disposed at a re-entrant angle. The extremity of the rail B is formed with the oppositely beveled faces 26. By cutting away the body of the web of the rail, as at 23, a tongue 27 is left which is adapted to fit within the groove 18 of rail A.

With the rails constructed as described, it

is obvious that when placed together the beveled faces 26 will fit within the groove 12, the tongue 23 will fit within the groove 18, and the shoulders 25 will fit against the beveled faces 19. The beveled shoulder 22 will fit within the groove 17, while the oppositely beveled end face of the rail A will fit within the groove 21. Thus the two rails will be held from any independent lateral movement and from independent longitudinal movement. Atthe same time the rail B may be readily lifted from the rail A and if the rail B be lifted slightly from the rail A it is possible to readily disengage the does away with the necessity of constantly tightening up bolts and fish plates.

I claim In a rail joint, coacting rails, one of said rails at one end being cut away upon its upper face and the adjacent end of the other rail being cut away upon its under face to overlap the first named rail, the inner end wall of the cut-away portionof one rail being formed with a vertically extending, grooved shoulder, the outer end of the cutaway portion of the rail being formed with a vertically extending shoulder grooved upon its inner face, the intermediate portions of the rail between said shoulders being upwardly extended and longitudinally grooved, the inner end of the intermediate portion forming a vertical shoulder, the other rail having the under face of its cutaway portion at its inner end formed with a vertically grooved shoulder and at its outer end formed with a vertical shoulder, the extremity of the outer end being formed to fit within the groove in the inner shoulder of the first named rail, the intermediate portion between said first and second named shoulders f the second named rail being formed to provide a vertical shoulder and a longitudinal tongue, the tongue being adapted to fit within the longiti'idinally extending groove of the first namedrail.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

' ISADOR J. BUFF. 

